burrow
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Summary
"Did you ever love me?"
Kim forced himself to breathe evenly. It was getting progressively harder. Chay tugged at his wrist, holding onto Kim with both of his hands, and something had begun to scrape along the inside of Kim's throat.
"Phi," Chay said, insistent, and it caught somewhere between a plea and a demand, and Kim turned as though Chay had gotten hold of his chin and tugged. Kim's breath built and built and collapsed somewhere down his throat. Chay's eyes were brimming, red lining them, and his shoulders were heaving with every breath. Kim could see the damp tracks his tears had already taken. Kim felt sick. His throat burned with it.
It shouldn't be this way, he thought suddenly. It shouldn't be this way. Chay should never have gotten involved with Kim, should never have been targeted because of Porsche, should never have been dragged screaming and blind into a world he clearly did not belong in. It didn't matter. This was how things had turned out, and now all Kim could do was make sure Chay did not look back when he got the chance to run.
AU-gust 2026 Day 6 : Magic Realism
Series
- Part 6 of AU-gust 2026
- Part 1 of burrow
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Summary
Go to class, Kim had thought. A neat distraction, Kim had thought. Don't think about it for a bit, Kim had thought. Give it a rest, Kim had thought. Come back to it later, Kim had thought.
The meeting with his manager had been fine. She'd mentioned a new song, and Kim had thought, unbidden, of the half-written melody he had strummed out after Chay had— and Kim had erupted into a violent coughing fit. He had managed to disappear into the bathroom, and when he'd returned, his manager was boiling water, lemon and ginger tea bags at the ready. Take care of your voice, she'd told him, frowning, and he'd nodded. I mean it, she'd said. Take some rest. Kim had gone home and tried not to think about it. Chay hadn't been on the front doorstep. The flowers had made another brief appearance in the aftermath of interrogating the old police inspector, which had made even less sense than usual, but he'd been fine. He was fine. Everything was fine, under control.
Except then Pran had to open his fucking mouth and say, "Well, how's that nong doing? Why'd he disappear?"
Series
- Part 2 of burrow